Report of the independant Commission for Sustainable Equality

Abstract

The Independent Commission for Sustainable Equalityhas been entrusted with a mission to develop a newprogressive vision rooted in sustainable development.This mission, aimed at combating growing inequalitiesin Europe, is inspired by the 2030 SustainableDevelopment Goals adopted by all European MemberStates and other countries in the United Nations in 2015.This visionary agenda has still not been fully and clearlyincorporated into European policy, or translated intospecific European policy objectives.This is the Independent Commission's first policy report.It issues a call to action for a radically different Europe,through over 100 policy proposals which can be pursuedby progressive parties and other actors during the nextterm from 2019 to 2024, and embedded with a radicallydifferent approach to European governance built on anew Sustainable Development Pact.The Independent Commission insists on the urgency ofthis radical policy action, in the face of several crises thatare mutually and increasingly reinforcing each other, andby the need to revive social democracy at a highly criticaljuncture of its political history. These crises - economic,social, environmental and political - are a result of theprevailing economic system. In the absence of profoundchange these crises will lead to democratic collapse,either because authoritarian populist and extremistforces will gain decisive power across Europe, or becausethese economic, social or environmental crises will havereached a destabilising stage for society. For example, thenew report by the Intergovernmental Panel on ClimateChange (IPCC) made the environmental challengevery clear. A new financial crisis, which some expertsare already predicting, could have devastating effectson our economies building on the persistent negativeeffects of the 2008 crisis. Insufficient progress has beenmade to make the eurozone more resilient to shocks.A continuing deterioration of social conditions, fuelledby rising inequalities and growing insecurity, not leastin left behind regions ...